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Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget proposal offered a few changes to the state’s controversial policy of requiring local governments to confine and monitor growing numbers of offenders, but for the most part, leaves the program in place. Andrew Edwards in the Daily News,

The governor’s May Revised budget would give local probation departments a relatively small boost in funding for programs designed to prevent offenders from returning to state prison. Brown’s spending plan would also create a program in which offenders sentenced to long-term jail commitments could be exchanged for prison inmates, among some other proposals.

“I get politics, you know,” Morrell, R-Rancho Cucamonga said. “There’s going to be disagreements. There’s going to be ambition. There’s going to be parties getting pressure from both sides of the aisle. “ Andrew Edwards in the Daily News,

Morrell’s bill would have mandated that all sex offenders who violate parole by failing to register would be returned to state prison instead of local jails. The lawmaker said he thought his bill would have been the kind of idea just about anyone in Sacramento could support.

It didn’t work out that way.

The Assembly Public Safety Committee voted Morell’s bill down March 12 on a party-line vote.

California’s public schools are the big winners in Gov. Jerry Brown’s “breakthrough” budget plan, with education leaders saying they hope to have the money to restore many of the public services gutted by years of recession. Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

With more revenue from the Proposition 30 tax initiative passed in November and an improving economy, officials for cash-strapped school districts, community colleges and public universities said they’ll be able to stave off more cuts and stabilize their own operations.

Throughout Southern California, school officials on Thursday spoke of averting furloughs, minimizing layoffs and scheduling a full academic year. At the same time, there were concerns about Brown’s proposal to shift adult education programs from school district control to the massive community college system.

A federal judge Wednesday ordered prison and fines for Kinde Durkee, the former Democratic campaign treasurer who admitted taking more than $7 million from candidates across the state, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Frank Girardot in the Daily News.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller said Durkee, 59, a Long Beach resident who maintained her headquarters in Burbank, tampered with the electoral process. She ordered Durkee, described by prosecutors as the “Bernie Madoff” of campaign treasurers, to serve 8 years and 1 month in federal prison and pay $10.5 million in fines.

Durkee’s acts disrupted campaigns – big and small – across California. She pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud in March.

With Assemblyman Cameron Smyth termed out, voters in California’s 38th District will choose between Republican Scott Wilk and Democrat Edward Headington in the upcoming election. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News,

Wilk contends he is no stranger to the district, having lived in Santa Clarita more than 20 years and served as chief of staff to its assembly members throughout the 80s and 90s.